


Between Two Beats

by lorannah



Category: Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: Ep: Wedding of Sarah-Jane Smith, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-18
Updated: 2009-12-18
Packaged: 2017-10-04 13:57:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lorannah/pseuds/lorannah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A coda set at the end of the episode. A fix-it of sorts, that wouldn't leave me alone until I'd written it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between Two Beats

**Author's Note:**

> Download link: http://www.box.net/shared/59163q1itk

“No one’s ever going to forget you,” Sarah-Jane told him with a broken smile and the Doctor watched as once again she walked from the Tardis a little more damaged than before. Perhaps it would be better if they would forget him.

The Doctor shook himself; it served no purpose being maudlin. He’d been there to save her this time, that’s what mattered and there was one last thing now he could do.

He pushed the door of the Tardis open on an ordinary hallway, in an ordinary house, on an ordinary street where a man lay dying. Slowly the Doctor walked over to him and stared down at the prone body.

“Hello, Peter.”

* * * * * *

Dying was not what Peter had imagined.

His body was shattered, that much was clear though the pain was so distant and unreal it might of belonged to someone else.

Hovering above him was death or an angel or something in between - whispering promises or lies. Months and life and love and loss and a woman stretched before him. They always said that your life moved before your eyes as you died, they never said it was the life you hadn’t had a chance to live yet. Maybe that made more sense.

The final gasps of life rushing through what should have been, so there was nothing left to tie you to the world.

Then it was all gone, a rattle of pain running through a body that was no longer his.

“Hello, Peter.” Another voice, another face hovering above him, a sad smile.

Maybe this was how Death came, sorrowful guidance in a striped suit.

* * * * * *

Putting Peter’s body back together was not difficult for the Doctor – a human could have done it if there had been opportunity. If Peter had not lived alone, if someone had heard him fall and rushed to his rescue, if he had found Sarah-Jane a few weeks earlier.

It was Peter’s mind that the Doctor was concerned about as he brewed some tea. He did not know how much he remembered of the Trickster’s games or of Sarah-Jane or what the knowledge would do to him. Even if he remembered nothing perhaps it would be compensation enough that this man still existed in the world – there should Sarah need him.

Peter was sat now on his sofa, hands clasped between his knees, eyes fixed upon them.

The Doctor held out the mug to him. “Here.”

They drank in silence, the Doctor waiting for Peter to speak first. “I thought,” he said at last, “I had to die. What does that mean for...?”

“She’s fine,” the Doctor reassured him quickly. “You don’t have to die, as long as it wasn’t the Trickster who saved you,” he hesitated for a second. “Just don’t invent the cure for the common cold or kill anyone or anything. A quiet life, understand?”

“A quiet life? With Sarah-Jane Smith?” Peter asked, still not looking at him.

“Well... relatively speaking. I’m sure you can get away with saving the world once or twice, timelines have ways of sorting it all out in the end.” The Doctor knew he was babbling but it didn’t look like Peter was really listening.

“Even with you and your box and everything you can do, everywhere you can go, all the things you could mend or destroy,” Peter looked up at him then meeting his eyes. “Even with all that, she’s the remarkable one.”

“Yes,” the Doctor agreed. “She is. You’ll find her again?”

Peter shook his head. “I don’t know. I never really loved anyone before and between two beats of a dying heart I found someone I would die for. It’s terrifying,” he said with a soft laugh. “And I saw so much, what we had and could have had – all that joy... and the heartache. I think I will need time to make sense of it.”

The Doctor nodded, rising to leave and then paused. “Learn from another’s mistake; don’t leave her waiting too long.”

“And what about you?” Peter asked and the Doctor stopped, hesitating in the doorway.

“Oh me? I’m just a shadow from the past. It’s the future that’s important now. Take care of her.”

“I think it more likely that she’ll take care of me.”

“Probably, she always looked after me,” The Doctor turned to leave again.

“Doctor,” Peter said but the Doctor couldn’t look back anymore. “I will.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> My policy on permissions for use of my work is that you don't in fact need my permission to make art, record podfic, remix, critique, translate, save, share or otherwise reuse and interact with anything I've done. I'd love it if you'd share a link with me when you're done.
> 
> Any comments are also welcome – I'd love to hear what worked for you and (truly) what didn't or about those really obvious typos that my mind can't see anymore. If you don't want to comment publicly, feel free to e-mail me. Everything and anything will be loved and cherished.


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